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Haddock Fights
"Haddock Fights" is a Season 4 thread written on April 4, 2015. Summary Full Text Gareth Ragnar Haddock the Second: 'With a fierce roar, screaming “CHARGE!” though no one could hear, the king charged forward straight to the most packed center of Valhallan soldiers. The king clashed into Valhallan warriors, weapon spinning extravagantly. He lunged forward, stabbing straight into the pit of a warrior, spun body and blade, ducked, tripped the warrior across from him, twisted. Sword swung out, stab. Arm drew back and twisted, swipe and hit. Feet twisted about him in a dance, forward, backward, left, right, as he engaged in five-to-one combat. His left hand swept across, slicing fatally, and even as his arm’s momentum drew back, he let go of the blade. It spun once in a flip behind his back; his right hand grabbed the hilt again as it rolled behind his shoulder, and used the blade’s spin to sweep off the head of another warrior with his right hand. He tossed the blade before him back to the left and began fencing with a Valhallan warrior clearly adept with the blade; in three feints Haddock hamstrung and gutted him, and turned forth to fight. The sweat of battle was already heating him, yet he felt it not. Only the rush. The rush. The spins and cycles of hands and blade and feet. The edge of his sword spun as a tornado, in one hand, then the next, then the skies, always stabbing, always slicing, always lunging, always drawing blood. With each and every artful sweep the sword sentenced its adversaries to howls and injuries, lost hands and bleeding sides. In one breath. Stab. Next breath. Turn. Next breath. Duck. Next breath. Lunge. Suddenly Haddock gasped as the trees writhed around him, coming alive with waving, grasping branches.''What in Hel’s name? He heard a cackle rising from above the treelines, the voice of Loki animating apparitions and disorder. Vision flashed, and suddenly the world colored over in impossible illusions. Loki swathed the battlefield in visual paradoxes, false visions and noises and a whole army of unreal images. “Try fighting for your lives when you don’t know what is real!” Loki cackled. And then his voice vanished. Try fighting for your lives when you don’t know what is real!… 'Vox Arnason: '''Vox threw his shield up again, deflecting Valhallan warriors as best as he could muster. He was not bred for war, but his self-defense tactics were passable in such a fight. “AAAGH!” He managed to step back momentarily, giving himself space to grab an arrow and launch it forward, impaling one of Odin’s men in the chest. The apparitions and noises that filled the air around them, with Loki conjuring them at every turn. There was much screaming and clashing, to the point that the boy couldn’t keep focus. ''Where is Tree?!… Where is Dario?! 'Gareth Ragnar Haddock the Second: '''The king backed up, noticing Vox fighting just a short distance away, and rushed to engage a woman who was coming up behind Vox. Haddock blocked the woman’s blow before she could attack, turned her around, and felled her. “Careful, scout!” Haddock shouted, even as he raised his sword for a defensive maneuver. Each one of his sweeps were efficient, the minimal amount of movement needed to successfully engage his opponent. To his shock, as his sword swept toward the other’s axe… the sword rushed right through the blade. It slipped through the axe blade as though it swept through cloud - that axe was of no substance at all! ''One of Loki’s apparitions. The real-seeming man raised that axe to attack Haddock, but the king turned away from him. The axe swept right through the king’s torso, but did no damage; the vision was not real. Haddock turned to fight another warrior, a haunted Valhallan half-breed. “Vox!” Haddock shouted again. “Can you tell which of these people are real or not?” 'Vox Arnason: '''Vox shuffled himself to have his back to Haddock’s — the least he could do to ensure that his King’s back was watched. The two looked around at the battle before them, determining what was real, and what was a trick of Loki’s. “I’m trying, Haddock!” He shot an arrow outward again, only to have it fly through an apparition. “My King, I’m going to deplete my quiver if I waste them on the illusions!” He shot another arrow, and thankfully landed it in the shoulder of a smaller warrior. The soldier of Valhalla couldn’t have been older than Vox… but this was war. '''Grey Bergman: '''Grey’s vision swam across the soldiers swarming her, Shadow, and Warren. She heard Loki’s voice before, but unfortunately, she didn’t pay attention to it, which proved to be a mistake because as she continued to fight. Her sword swiped through a few illusions. Loki was messing with them…again. She gritted her teeth and was about to turn to Warren and Shadow to tell them that they needed to go for a ground assault, but she suddenly found herself surrounded by Valhallan soldiers. Warren and Shadow were nowhere to be found! Her heart pounded! “WARREN! SHADOW!” she shouted over the noise of her sword clanging with the real soldiers. “WHERE ARE YOU?! GUYS!” She had to fight…had to get away…find SOMEONE. Determination flooded through her body. She swung her sword and used her body knocking the soldiers away…causing some bloodshed but she paid no mind to the screaming, writhing soldiers and causing some illusions to disappear. Once she got away, she looked around and saw…King Haddock and Vox! Finally, two friendly faces…who were completely surrounded. She ran forward and charged at one soldier, who was about to attack the two gentlemen, cutting off his ear. She watched as he fell to the ground and looked to King Haddock and Vox. “Told you I’ve got your back,” she said simply. '''Gareth Ragnar Haddock the Second: '''The king nodded, thankful for Grey’s saving appearance, then suddenly lunged forward right at her forehead. His sword flashed past her ear, brushing past her hair, and stabbed into someone who had come right up behind her. Even as her eyes widened at his sudden shocking move, he announced, “And I’ve got yours.” He turned away at once, looking at what was obviously an illusion. No living creature had five heads, three feet, and rainbowed feathers coming out of its arms. ''What was Loki doing with ''that''one? The illusioned creature suddenly pulsated, strobing impossibly bright lights, blinding Haddock. He turned away, shouting, trying to see in the midst of the throbbing multi-colored lights. His vision danced. Desperately he swung toward the rainbowed apparition; with a few swings of his blade, he dissipated it, and the strobing lights - thankfully - faded. At least these apparitions disappear, he thought. And then a sword plunged through his shoulder. Haddock stared in shock, eyes widened, jaw opening in a wordless shout. He couldn’t even feel the blade in the sudden… For the love of the damned warring gods, that’s another apparition! Haddock ran straight toward the man holding the false blade and angrily tore the apparition into nothingness. That could have been a real soldier stabbing me! I need to be more careful! His eyes swept around, searching again to make sure that, during his moment of distraction, Grey and Vox had not been overwhelmed themselves. Both were fine, engaging Valhallan enemies. 'Stonegit Brotchurn Elmiss: '''Stonegit had remained silent throughout this whole fight, aside from cries of battle and grunts from the effort of fighting. He gave a wry smile as he watched Vox and Haddock fight beside one another, it was good to see old friends reconnecting…even if if was on the battlefield. He gasped as an illusion hurled a bolder at him, and he ducked, the projectile vanishing. He growled. “Loki doesn’t know how to leave well enough alone!” he yelled, positioning himself so that he was beside Haddock. “We have to stop these illusions or we won’t stand a chance of continuing!” The ground shook underneath them as they watched Hel and Odin appear in their true forms. “Sweet afterlife….” Stonegit breathed. “So that’s….a god.” he shook his head, and continued to stand beside his King. His ax slammed into a soldiers side and he ripped it out, swinging and smashing the weapon into a raised shield. He heard his heart beating in his chest, his vision filling with the battle. Blood fell on the ground as he killed another foe and his eyes flared. His strokes became harsher, crisper, and more powerful. A soldier tackled him so he fell back into Haddock, causing the King to stumble. Stonegit resisted as the man tried pushing his sword down to the boy’s chest. Stonegit’s mind flashed, memories resurfacing. The man pinned Stonegit’s arms down with one hand and Stonegit’s mind filled with pain. Yelling in rage, he thrust his head up, his brow connecting with the soldier’s face. Then his head turned to the side, and before the soldier could stab him, Stonegit’s teeth sunk into his neck, and he yanked his head back, taking the man’s throat with him. Reaching up, Stonegit slammed the man’s head into the ax that was laying beside him, and then he scrambled to his feet. Panting as his mind slowly cleared. He looked back to see if Haddock was safe. '''Akkey Black: '''A portal stretched in the midst of it all, and through it burst out Akkey with someone close behind her…. the Warden? Rebels around her gawked in fear and shock, afraid that she would start attacking them again. Akkey wildly looked around, the full force of the war exploding in her face. The Warden was right. ''Oh gods… She saw comrades, Vox, Grey, Stonegit and the King… all fighting, trying to survive. But it was difficult. They were surrounded by enemies… humans, half breeds, other worldly creatures, but some…. some had weapons pass right through them. She grit her teeth, Loki. The portal was still open; she had to act before it closed. She tensed her arms, grunting at the weight, and a deluge of water streamed from the opening, freezing themselves into pointed spikes. She carefully targeted enemies, there was no luxury to pinpoint incorrectly. A final look… and she threw them with all her might. They embedded themselves into bodies, some real, some fake, but at least she took out a good number of the illusions. Nasty, cheating little things… She exhaled as the portal closed with a pop. “Anyone hurt?!” 'Fiendal Hrothgar Hookless: '“only a slight bit” he laughed, as if he wasn’t even battling. Just then an enemy soldier brought up their sword, thinking they’d seen an opening, but Fiendal brought up his hook and swatted the sword aside, stabbing th soldier through the chest “Im guessing we all know about the illusions then?” he said “curse whatever sick, twisted fucker brought this upon us” He killed another soldier then ran over next to Akkey “are you ok?” he asked, turning round in time to see a sword slicing through the air towards him, which he parried in the nick of time. Then he called out to anyone “how many do you think there are?” 'Nalaagura Ep'ha: 'The Warden immediately drew her double swords from where they were concealed in her ribcage. She could quickly detect what was an illusion and what was not by searching for their minds, disabling those that posed a threat and ignoring those that did not. She barely noticed Akkey responding to the young mortal with a smile and a nod. There was too much happening, too much to look for. '''STONEGIT!! she wailed out. Stonegit Elmiss: 'Stonegit turned around, smearing the blood that was on his face in an attempt to wipe it away. “Woodchuck!” he called, smiling. He ran over to her and gripped her arms. “I’m so glad you-” Stonegit was smacked to the side by a Valhallan dragon and he rolled several feet. His foot landed in the water of the lake off to the side of the fortress. It was then it occurred to him just how far this battle had taken them. He stood to his feet and then gasped, seeing Orskaf hurling a weapon at him. He brought up his ax, but the illusion vanished as it reached him. He heard Loki chuckle, and then gasped as his ax was sent flying out of his hand, spinning into a tree. He turned in a slowly circle. “Were are you! You cheating bastard!” he yelled. '''Loki: '''Stonegit heard cackles all around him as the god of mishief rained more illusions down onto the world. Loki apparently hardly cared how he fought; now that there was war, all rules or courtesies were out the window - even less so than usual for this mischief maker. Out from the earth writhed suctioned tentacles, out from the waters even more creatures, down from the skies even more apparitions breathing fire and shooting lighting. At first it seemed as though the god were utterly ignoring Stonegit’s shout, simply raining down chaos on everything and everyone with regardless abandon. But then the world changed. Even as a voice cackled, “Ooooh, this little bug is mad at me? How charming!” the world writhed. Apparitions’ faces changed. A good dozen of them were the face of Orskaf. “Hmmmm I heard all about your little incident back when my daughter first made her bargain with you peeps. You don’t like this man, do you? “Or how about these blokes?” A deer half-breed appeared, one who had first accompanied Orskaf when he had spoken to Haddock about the contract. The other three soldiers that had accompanied Orskaf materialized too. “You guys are rather close and touchy, aren’t you?” '''Stonegit Elmiss: '''Stonegit barked a harsh scream, backing up a few steps, his hand slowly raising as if to protect himself. He ran for the tree his ax was stuck in, but he was shoved away. He rolled on the ground, and smacked the ground with his fist once in frustration. He pulled himself up, trying not to look at the illusions. “I’m not scared of them!” he yelled, gritting his teeth. “They’re scared of me! …they just don’t realize it yet!” he stumbled in a slow circle, backing away so his feet were touching the edge of the water. His chest heaved, his throat tightening. '''Loki: '“Ooooooo, backing up and not scared? Tut tut. Stupid little bug. You’re piss in your pants scared, I can tell. And you ain’t gonna touch that wittle ax of yours, aren’t ya? Hmm? Hmm? Not like it’d help in any case.” Loki’s voice still floated around in the skies, attached to no body. “You know what’s fun about illusion? Illusion isn’t just vision. Sure, that’s what most of my cheap tricks on this battlefield are, but that’s all that I need to mess you stupid lot up. Unimportant stupid little sidetracked ants, your entire human race. Eh, but if I want to, I can make illusions of any of the bodily senses. You can see these men coming to get ja, can’t you?” Indeed, all of Loki’s figures were walking toward Stonegit all the closer. “I can make you smell them. Taste them.” A cackle rose up. “''Feel them. These men, so far as you’ll be able to tell, are real. “And they’re coming to get you.” '''Stonegit Elmiss: '''Stonegit’s mind began to ache again and he shook his head. His eyes wide. “You can’t hurt me!” he said, his voice desperate and angry. “You’re not allowed! Not till Hel decides to fight you!” Stonegit gripped his head, facing the oncoming visions. “They’re fake!” he yelled, looking around his feet and trying to find a weapon. “They’re fake and I can make them disappear!” '''Loki: '“I’m not actually hurting you. Looooooooophole! None of it is real. Granted, yeah, sure, you’ll feel every second of it.” 'Stonegit Elmiss: '“Don’t you do it!” Stonegit yelled, his voice going horse. “Don’t you do it you sick…sick fuck!” He looked over the visions shoulders, seeing how the soldier’s of Odin’s army were keeping keeping Haddock and the Warden from getting over to him. He clenched his fists. “That’s my charge over there….so fine! I’ll face whatever you can throw at me! Whatever it takes to get back over to where I’m supposed to be!” 'Loki: '“Ehhhhh you’re feeling more sick than I am, little chappie.” Loki’s voice was incredibly mocking. “But if you really want your charge around, heyyyy… I can be a reasonable man sometimes.” More soldiers obscured Stonegit’s vision from Haddock. For a long time Stonegit could not see where Haddock was at, let alone if the king were safe. But then suddenly Haddock came rushing toward Stonegit, sword wielded and ready to fight anyone surrounding him. “Stonegit! Are you okay? Are you…?” His eyes widened at the apparitions. He clenched his teeth angrily, then swung out to dissipate the nearest Orskaf face. To his surprise, he hit a solid body. “These… these ones aren’t disappearing,” the king said, astonished. He stepped toward Stonegit. “Where’s your ax? It’s gone?” Haddock paused. “Then all the easier to get rid of you!” Haddock’s voice changed to Loki’s as the god swung the blade toward Stonegit. '''Stonegit Elmiss: '''Stonegit’s face went white as things became silent, and slow around him. He fells backwards, splashing into the water as the blade swished past his head. Under the water, his fingers curled around the old rusted fisherman’s pike he had dropped there so long ago. Knowing he would be sick for what he was about to do against something that looked so similar to Haddock, Stonegit rolled to his feet. He swung the pike around, smacking the hilt of it across Loki’s face. The god was shocked for a brief moment. He had forgotten that attacks hurt a lot more when it was a day of battle, and that being in a human form usually added to physical pain. And worst of all, he had forgotten that human could actually pack a punch when backed by another god. And the moments hesitation was all all Stonegit needed. With a vengeful yelled he tackled Loki to the ground, pressing a foot in his face. With a hard, swift slam, he rammed the pike through Loki’s right eye socket. He twisted it once, sliding Loki’s head across the snow twice before hurling him away. '''Loki: '''Loki howled angrily. As he curled in to hold his bleeding eye socket, illusions flickered. All across the battlefield, Loki’s false soldiers disappeared, vanishing into the air. Trees rightened themselves, once more becoming stiff and motionless. “GAHH! FUCKER!” Loki screeched, changing forms. He grew into the size of a large dragon. “Every. last. ''one''. of your army’s souls will be tormented and writhing ''once I get done with you!” He turned to glare at Stonegit, his bad eye growing back through shapeshifting, but it was clear the god still felt some pain. “And yours. You will wish you had lived all your days in Orskaf’s dungeon once I get my claws on you.” With that, he launched himself up, intent on fighting someone else for the time being, removing himself from the scene of his hurt pride. '''Stonegit Elmiss: '''Stonegit watched him as he left, and then dry heaved once, staggering over to the tree to get his ax back. He returned to Haddock’s side, panting. Thanks to the visions disappearing the group had been able to clear the initial enemies near them. He hurried over, placing a hand on the side of his head and looking at his eye. “Are you ok? You’re not hurt?” as he said these words he glanced at demon-in-the-dungeon again, giving a small smile. '''King Haddock: '“Yes. And you? You disappeared for a while,” Haddock noted. '''The Warden: '''Before Stonegit could answer, the two men physically buckled under the Warden’s mind as she leaped over them and swiped her swords through twenty soldiers in a mere second, their top halves falling to the ground a heartbeat after their legs did. Eyes burning violet, she turned to them, throwing her arms down by her sides, blood stringing from her blades in two identical arcs. Her hair billowed around her like dark flames. The very sight of her eight-foot, blood- and mud-splattered form was enough to make the bravest Valhallan soldier falter. '''Watch yourselves better, she snarled in a protective rage, mind buzzed with the thrill of bloodlust, gaze drilling into Stonegit particularly. Nala raced off again, slinging her consciousness before her like a battering ram, shooting spikes of rage into enemy minds, crippling their nervous systems, making them drop their weapons, trip or freeze as they confronted a rebel, and allowing them to easily dispatch their enemy. Nalaagura flooded every assailant within fifty feet of her in a tidal wave of pain, breaking their minds with hallucinations and horrific flashes of gruesome injuries, plaguing them with sudden onsets of blindness and deafness, a constant voiceless keening causing many to scream in pain and fall to their knees, and the rest to be at the very least distracted. Across the battlefield, her previous vessels felt surges of stamina and power. Stonegit’s fists trailed smoke, Gareth’s steps made the ground quake, Tree’s claws melted flesh on contact and Akkey’s ice projectiles grew twice as hard and sharp. In person, she was a terror, a whirlwind; her twin blades, forged in the heart of Bloedrest, pierced through Valhallan armor like it was nothing more than parchment. Even if they managed to withstand the mental onslaught, they were done for as soon as they came within her reach. A screaming roar yanked her gaze skyward, eyes widening. From the opposing side of the battlefield, a flight of armored dragons were zipping like arrows over the rebels, some stocked with archers, some dropping boulders, some acting as weapons themselves, dipping in breathtakingly fast dives to scoop up rebels and bite their heads off or break their backs, shooting banners of fire in wide arcs across rebel lines. Not good, not good, Nala muttered, pulling her blade from the chest of a burly wolf half-breed in bronzed armor and sheathing both swords, racing for the twisting shadows that marked the dragons’ positions, frantically trying to come up with a plan. In her headlong rush, she just missed the coordinated effort of the soldiers to trip her with a strong metal wire; it tangled her calves and brought her to the ground, and arrows tied with the same material crisscrossed overhead as she flared scarlet and tried to kick free. There was no way in Hel she was going down like this. Nalaagura got to her knees, her limbs tangled in dull silver lines. Her eyes flicked left as she sensed a dragon spraying molten fire in a wide path coming up behind them. In a quick, sudden movement, she rolled to the side, directly in the line of the dragon’s fire. The soldiers holding her restraints were incinerated or burned beyond functionality, and the lines loosened. She shut her eyes tightly against the bright flash of liquid fire and pain that left her intact body smoking and charred and the metallic ropes glowing briefly with heat. Her chest heaved as she grabbed hold of the wire to pull herself free, gaze locked onto the enormous Monstrous Nightmare that had just inadvertently saved her. How am I going to get up there, I can’t fight them from down here… Nala growled sharply and jerked her head around, looking for a way up. Looks like there’s only one way to do this. The porcelain body went into an automated, regular fighting set, not as skilled or multipurpose as it had been earlier, but enough to still be doing damage and not sitting idly. Nala pried herself out of her body and slammed as an invisible streak of energy into the dragon’s mind, winning control after a struggle that lasted no longer than a second. The Nightmare dived in a rough corkscrew, jerking its rider halfway out of the saddle, and then pulled up sharply enough to break a few bones. The demon didn’t have time to see which ones. The dragon was hers. She steered it towards its brothers, grimly heating up its mouth to prepare for another blast of fire. Kiaama would have been more skilled at manipulating a flying body, but this was the best she could do. A Skrill had already noticed the betrayal and turned with a snap of electricity to finish the dragon, and Nala dug deep within the Nightmare’s instincts and outmaneuvered it. Steaming hot kerosene gel streamed from the corners of the dragon’s mouth to coat its scales quickly, and the Nightmare climbed higher, higher, with the Skrill still in pursuit, and at their apex, the demon turned it around and divebombed the Skrill, slamming into its chest and igniting the flammable substance covering its body. The Skrill screamed in pain and writhed, struggling to break free from the sudden plunge, but the Nightmare hooked its claws in tightly, and the two ensnared dragons smashed into the earth in a ball of flames and lightning, skidding hundreds of yards and ripping a huge gouge into the terrain, the corpses coming to rest in a smoking pile out of sight. It was the first of many grim, forced deaths as the Warden directed dragon after dragon to slam into the unyielding ground. With every downed dragon, the surrounding rebels cheered, and the Warden’s eyes quirked up in a reluctant smile. Messy but effective.Category:Events Category:Season 4 Category:Gareth Ragnar Haddock the Second